Few saw the Miami Heat advancing from the Eastern Conference's eighth playoff seed to the grouping's slot in the NBA Finals. For Jeff Van Gundy, however, it was more or less business as usual.
For 24 years, Van Gundy was the head coach of the only No. 8 team to advance to the Finals: his New York Knicks team from the lockout-shortened 1999 season were the first to do so and they now have company in the form of the Heat, who will tip off against the Western champion Denver Nuggets on Thursday night in The Rockies (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC). Though long retired from the coaching game, Van Gundy will still play a role, as he will serve as ABC's analyst for the best-of-seven set, reprising a role he has held since 2007.
The comparisons between the Knicks' past and Miami's present will be one of the underlying storylines of the coming series, which is partly possible thanks to the Heat's six-game victory over the Knicks in the second round of the Eastern portion. Van Gundy pointed out several similarities between the two in a conversation with Peter Botte of the New York Post.
“I think the one similarity is that injuries impacted the regular-season record. So it’s the quality of the teams at the eight-seed, our year in ’99 and obviously now,” Van Gundy said. “For us, it was injury and the shortened season. For Miami, it was injuries that impacted the continuity of their roster. So I think that’s the similarity."
To Van Gundy's point, the Knicks were missing Patrick Ewing for nearly half of their 20-game playoff trek, though several super subs (i.e. Latrell Sprewell. Kurt Thomas) rose to the occasion in their postseason journey, which began with a five-game series win over the top-seeded Heat in the opening round before besting Atlanta and Indiana. Miami, victors over Milwaukee and Boston to sandwich the win over the Knicks, has operated without Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo, as their trek has been paced by the efforts of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Caleb Martin.
Van Gundy was quick to give players on both sides their props as the Finals loom.
"You don’t advance in the NBA Playoffs without great players. People say it’s a player’s league, because it’s true," he said. "You have to have a toughness, you have to have an intelligence. I think both of our teams, our team in ’99 and Miami’s team this year shared that.”
Like Van Gundy's Knicks, Erik Spoelstra's Heat will now face the Western Conference's top dogs and a group seeking its first Larry O'Brien Trophy hoist. The Knicks fell in five games to the San Antonio Spurs while the Heat will face a Denver group headlined by two-time MVP Nikola Jokić.
Perhaps stating the obvious, Van Gundy believes that the Heat's win, even with the talent they've amassed, would stand as one of the biggest upsets in Finals history, considering who they've had to face on the road to Denver.
“I think if they end up winning the championship, it’ll be the most unlikely champion that I can remember," Van Gundy said. "they will have beaten the teams with the top two records in the NBA (Milwaukee and Boston). They will then have beaten the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference in this playoff run."
"The journey has been right through the heart of greatness, and they’ve been able to answer the bell. Everyone deserves an incredible amount of credit. I just love their team toughness, both mental and physical.”
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